The Implementation Completion Note on the Haiti Forestry and Environmental Protection project (Credit 2301-HA) has been reviewed. The Note was prepared by the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office.

The project was approved in early FY92, shortly before Bank activities in Haiti were suspended. The credit could not be signed and was withdrawn in March 1994. The project has not been rated.

The project was to curb the degradation of natural resources through forest protection and better management on State forests and neighboring farms. It included measures to strengthen the capacity of concerned agencies and to conserve fuelwood. Project activities reflected the lessons from a Bank-funded pilot project (Credit 1257) and the forestry program funded by the United States Agency for International Development. For example, non-governmental organizations were to provide agro-forestry extension advice to smallholders and technical support to stove makers to improve the efficiency of fuelwood utilization.

Environmental degradation has accelerated and the Haitian government recently reconfirmed the high priority of the project objectives and strategy. The lessons identified in the PCR for the pilot project (Report No.9399) are similar to the findings of the 1994 "Review of Implementation of the Forest Sector Policy" (Report No. R94-218). A 1994 OED document "Conditional Lending Experience in World Bank-Financed Forestry Projects" (Report No. 13820) discusses several types of covenants pertinent for the Haiti strategy. These documents, together with the SAR and the background papers for the withdrawn credit, provide a solid basis for a revised project.

The Completion Note gives an adequate account of the project. No audit is planned.